Diner
Feb/101
I wonder if someday I’ll be old and gray and spend late nights sitting at a diner, drinking cups of coffee and reading the newspaper (if newspapers even exist). I don’t think I’d ever eat any of the desserts. From time to time I’d order a tuna salad sandwich with some extra pickles on the side. If I were so inclined to write a novel, it might be the perfect location to draft the story.
I’d probably drive back to the lake house. I’d sit out on the porch for a while, likely drinking a mass-produced though respectable lager by the can. The sound of the crickets would be soothing. Some nights I’d sit there until the sky showed signs of the morning creeping through. Eventually, I’d retire only to wake a few hours later and repeat another day.
Extreme Beer Fest 2010 – Part 1, 2 and 3
Feb/101
Part 1
I’m sitting on the couch anxiously awaiting the departure for Boston to attend Extreme Beer Fest 2010. Erin, Holly and Derrick took my car to get gas and coffee and I’m waiting for them to arrive. Oh! Here they are. Hooray!
Part 2
To make the drive more manageable we took a pit stop in Middletown, CT for lunch at a bar named Eli Cannon’s Tap Room. It was an eclectic divey place. Food was alright. Beer selection was pretty nice. Seemed like the type of place that would be a lot of fun at night. It was a worthy stop. With the stop, we completed the trip to Boston in about 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Friday night was pretty low key though it did include the ridiculous event I described in the previous post.
Saturday had an awesome plan. We headed to the Jamaica Plain section of Boston to tour the Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams). Derrick and Holly were staying at the Westin near Copley Square so we came from different directions. Our timing was a few minutes off but it afforded us the chance to grab a couple beers and pizza from a nearby restaurant while we waited for our tour time. We got to try and exclusive Sam Adams wheat beer served by the restaurant alone (Bella Luna). The tour itself was quite short but the tasting that accompanied it was great. We had a terrific guide and it was probably the best brewery tour I’ve ever done. Erin also took the opportunity to volunteer on the tour and was tasked at getting us to guess what beer ingredient she was acting out (she was hops and hopped in the air – very well done).
I took a short though must needed nap. I headed to the beer festival with a .00 blood alcohol level as measured by my new AlcoHawk Slim breathalyzer. Yes, that is correct, I made an amazing impulse purchase. It is not a toy! It is an instrument of science!
Part 3
Extreme Beer Fest was once again extreme and a great time. It was interesting being their with 5 other friends. Having the opportunity to discuss the beers with one another was half the fun of it. I personally took a sample of 29 different beers and took sips here and there from the group. Worst beer by far was Weyerbacher Idiot’s Drool which was some weird barrel-aged version of their normal beer Blithering Idiot. It was foul. The most interesting was a beer brewed with pickling spices from Wormtown Brewery. The best was a tripel from Allagash with Montgomery cherries. Interestingly enough, it was the first beer I sampled and I ended up having several glasses. There was some disappointment in the fact that many of the most obscure beers ran out well before the end of the night. All the same, I got to try a lot of winners that will never be in commercial production.
Wisely, we headed back to Mark and Kara’s to wind down for the evening. It was time for TV and pizza. Incidentally, we all took BAC readings and I took the prize at .18, Mark was .14, Kara was .12 and Erin (the responsible one) was .02. Science I tell you! The pizza was great and we had some really great laughs. I love Boston.
We took it easy on Sunday and followed the great tradition of visiting the Cactus Cantina for lunch. I had a tasty and freshly tapped Abita Jockamo IPA. We had a few last laughs before parting ways.
It took about 6 hours to get home which isn’t terrible. Another great trip to Boston.
Weird Coincidence
Feb/105
I’m up in Boston visiting my brother and sister-in-law and also attending the Extreme Beer Fest this weekend. On Friday night we head out to dinner to this neat all you can eat stir-fry place named Fire+Ice (near Copley Square). I enjoy a good stir-fry so it all sounds good to me. We get there, find our seats and move on to deciding which ingredients and sauce will be first. Erin and I are standing at an open place amongst this large circular area where they fry our food on a large circular flat-top stove. Our waitress brings our margaritas. We look to our left and see my roommate Kevan standing next to us waiting to get his food cooked. We see each other and have a startled hello.
I had never mentioned to Kevin that I was going to Boston this weekend until I left him a note on Friday morning asking that he give the cat some extra food if she needed it. He had never mentioned to me that he was going to visit one of his friends from college who was on a work assignment in Boston. We had certainly never spoken about how all you can eat stir-fry would be a great dinner on Friday night around 8pm. I hope you can understand how strange of a coincidence this was.
It is one thing for us both to be in the same city without realizing it and another thing for us to be in the same random restaurant at the same random time. It is another completely ridiculous level when we realized that Kevin and his friend were seated directly next to us in the restaurant. Interestingly enough, the reservation had originally been for 6 in the event that Derrick and Holly wanted to join us but they decided to take some alone time. Perhaps Kevin and his buddy ended up taking the two seats we gave up.
It is a small world.
Carbonnades à la Flamandes
Feb/100
Tonight we are attending a Olympics party. The hook to the whole event is that everyone is supposed to bring food and drink representing a particular country. I decided Belgium would be an interesting choice. So, we shall bring some Belgian beer along with this delicious recipe I’ve cooked twice this week.
Carbonnades à la Flamandes – Flemish Beer Stew
3 tbsp unsalter butter
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
3 ½ pounds boneless beef chuck
3 medium yellow onions
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 750ml bottle Chimay Grande Réserve
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp fresh thyme
½ tsp of allspice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1) Cube the beef (trim excess fat)
2) Sauté beef in butter until nicely browned
3) Transfer meat to slow-cooker
4) Slice onions and garlic
5) Sauté onions/garlic in butter until nicely browned
6) Transfer onions/garlic to slow-cooker
7) Bring beer to a boil, simmer 5 minutes
8) Scrape pan and transfer beer into slow cooker
9) Add thyme, bay leaf, allspice, salt and brown sugar to slow cooker
10) Cook on low for 8 hours or until tender
11) Discard the bay leaf and add vinegar before serving
I suppose I should give credit to one of the websites that was an inspiration for this dish.
Snow Day
Feb/101
Normally, you would think that a snow day would be a great thing. To be honest, I would have rather been at work today. It was so hard to stay productive and on top of that I have the heat set pretty low during the daytime (didn’t feel like changing it). I may or may not have visited the local Irish pub for a lunch with coworkers. I also took a short walk to try and find interesting photographic subject matter. Taking pictures in the snow is tough. Finding interesting subject matter with good contrast takes a good eye and patience. Here are a few shots (there are a couple more on Facebook).
Good Choice
Feb/101
Last week I gave Erin a really tough challenge. She was planning to stop at Whole Foods after work on Friday to pick up a few things including some beer. I asked her to try and find a beer she thought I had never tried before. She asked if she could reference my list and I invited her to browse and make the best of it (she didn’t end up actually using it). I think we made some sort of bet but I can’t actually remember what it was.
She delivered Affligem Dubbel in a 750ml brown glass bottle.
When I first saw the bottle I wasn’t sure who had won. I was familiar with the bottle and knew that I had enjoyed a few Affligem brews over the years. A really classic representation of Belgian beer. I consulted the list and she had succeeded. I was most impressed and enjoyed a healthy glass. Good choice.
Top 25 Beers
Feb/104
In no particular order, here are the 25 best beers I’ve had in my lifetime.
| Great Divide Brewing Company | 15th Anniversary Wood Aged |
| Allagash Brewing Company | Allagash Tripel Reserve |
| Bell’s Brewery, Inc. | Bell’s HopSlam |
| Brasserie Cantillon | Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic-Bio |
| Brasserie Cantillon | Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus |
| Brouwerij Corsendonk | Corsendonk Christmas Ale |
| Southern Tier Brewing Company | Creme Brulee |
| Brouwerij Huyghe | Delirium Noël |
| Founders Brewing Company | Founders Blushing Monk |
| Founders Brewing Company | Founders Breakfast Stout |
| Founders Brewing Company | Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout |
| Brasserie d’Achouffe | La Chouffe |
| Unibroue | La Fin Du Monde |
| Dogfish Head Craft Brewery | Olde School Barleywine |
| Russian River Brewing Company | Pliny The Elder |
| Dogfish Head Craft Brewery | Raison D’extra |
| Selin’s Grove Brewing Company | Razz Merry Ale |
| Selin’s Grove Brewing Company | Shade Mountain Oatmeal Stout |
| Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV | St. Bernardus Abt 12 |
| Brouwerij St. Bernardus NV | St. Bernardus Abt 12 (60th) |
| Stone Brewing Company | Stone Ruination IPA |
| Brouwerij Westvleteren | Trappist Westvleteren 12 |
| Brouwerij Bosteels | Tripel Karmeliet |
| Tröegs Brewing Company | Tröegs Nugget Nectar |
| De Leyerth Brouwerijen (Urthel) | Urthel Hop-It |
And in case you weren’t already aware here are the other 1131 I can remember drinking.
Man vs Food
Feb/101
I am currently watching Adam Richman (Man vs Food) eat a 48oz porterhouse steak “live” on TV. This is so American. This is so cool.
Uh oh, I think someone used the phrase “Super Bowl” which means the Travel Channel is gonna owe someone some cash money.
I am thinking a steak might be in the works this weekend.
Wisdom Teeth
Feb/102
I finally had a consult with an oral surgeon to talk about my wisdom teeth. They are scheduled for extraction next Wednesday morning at 8am. That could be the end of the story, but it is not.
On a side note, though relevant, I bought the old computer from a coworker for $25. It doesn’t have the required connections for my hard drives (SATA) but I guess I can pick up a card for a few bucks to make the connection. Points being, I’m not spending money on a new computer at this moment.
It will cost me $168 to get all four teeth extracted. This particular practice does not deliver general anesthesia which means I’ll be awake for the procedure. I should note that 2 of the 4 teeth are impacted but it doesn’t appear they are impacted in a particularly obtrusive way. An option is to have nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”). However, neither my dental nor my medical insurance cover this so it would be an extra $175. the plus side is that I can drive myself home immediately after the procedure. Downside is that if I went to a practice that operated with general anesthesia I’d only have to pay 15% of the bill which would likely be less than $175 though that process does come with more risks.
Given that I’ll likely be paying $343 plus any pain medication prescriptions I don’t think it is a good idea to buy a computer right now. I probably should have signed up for a health flexible spending account this year.
Farewell Computer
Feb/104
After nearly six and a half years my desktop computer has finally bitten the dust. It no longer boots. It no longer sends a signal to the video card. It no longer beeps. It does spin all the fans but that’s about all. It was working just fine on Sunday evening until I got the bright idea to attach an extra hard drive. Normally, that is not a big deal. For some unknown reason my motherboard didn’t like that very much. A very boring death. I would have at least enjoyed a puff of smoke.
The question is of course, what do I do next. The answer is complicated.
For starters, let’s talk about what I use my computer to do. I use it to surf the internet 3-6 hours per week. I occasionally edit photographs. Sometimes I play some very basic computer games. I write emails. I listen to music and burn CD’s. I don’t really use it a ton to be honest but to not have a normal, functional personal computer would not be acceptable. For the record, I do have a work laptop but I can’t really use that to download music (that I already own of course) or to edit photos or to store things long term. I also have an old computer in the basement that I use solely for playing mp3′s. It is too old and slow to do much more than that.
I think it is fair to say that I do need to replace the computer. For the sake of seeing a big picture let’s assume I can get all of my relevant data stored on external storage so that I transfer what is needed but essentially start fresh. So, what are my options?
1) Custom system – good specs but not a dream system – motherboard, CPU, memory, case, DVD drive = ~$500
2) Custom system – top of the line – mostly the same parts, a better CPU plus a new video card = ~$800
3) iMac – base system = $1200
4) MacBook – base system = $1000
5) A friend’s old extra computer – nearly the same specs as my dead computer = $50
6) Refurbished HP desktop – modern hardware but no where near top-of-the-line = ~$350
I could leave it at that, but that really wouldn’t paint the picture fairly. You might think this is a conflict of wants versus needs and the $50 computer would do the trick. While that is a great short-term solution, how will it go in the long-term? The other options are better long-term investments and will ensure that I have a system that can aptly handle any new technologies. The Macs can be setup to dual-boot which means I not only would have the features of the Mac but also a Windows based system. The decision is pretty tough.
Any recommendations?